Akka stood there hesitatingly.  It was not pleasant, by any means, to venture out in the storm again, and it wasn’t good to remain in a house where such guests were expected.  When she had pondered a while, she turned to Thumbietot.  “I wonder if you will help us, as you have done so many times before,” said she.  Yes, that he would like to do, he replied.  “It is a pity for you not to get any sleep!” said the wild goose, “but I wonder if you are able to keep awake until the foxes come, and then to awaken us, so we may fly away.”  The boy was so very glad of this—­for anything was better than to go out in the storm again—­so he promised to keep awake.  He went down to the grotto opening, crawled in behind a stone, that he might be shielded from the storm, and sat down to watch.

When the boy had been sitting there a while, the storm seemed to abate.  The sky grew clear, and the moonlight began to play on the waves.  The boy stepped to the opening to look out.  The grotto was rather high up on the mountain.  A narrow path led to it.  It was probably here that he must await the foxes.

As yet he saw no foxes; but, on the other hand, there was something which, for the moment, terrified him much more.  On the land-strip below the mountain stood some giants, or other stone-trolls—­or perhaps they were actual human beings.  At first he thought that he was dreaming, but now he was positive that he had not fallen asleep.  He saw the big men so distinctly that it couldn’t be an illusion.  Some of them stood on the land-strip, and others right on the mountain just as if they intended to climb it.  Some had big, thick heads; others had no heads at all.  Some were one-armed, and some had humps both before and behind.  He had never seen anything so extraordinary.

The boy stood and worked himself into a state of panic because of those trolls, so that he almost forgot to keep his eye peeled for the foxes.  But now he heard a claw scrape against a stone.  He saw three foxes coming up the steep; and as soon as he knew that he had something real to deal with, he was calm again, and not the least bit scared.  It struck him that it was a pity to awaken only the geese, and to leave the sheep to their fate.  He thought he would like to arrange things some other way.

He ran quickly to the other end of the grotto, shook the big ram’s horns until he awoke, and, at the same time, swung himself upon his back.  “Get up, sheep, and well try to frighten the foxes a bit!” said the boy.

He had tried to be as quiet as possible, but the foxes must have heard some noise; for when they came up to the mouth of the grotto they stopped and deliberated.  “It was certainly someone in there that moved,” said one.  “I wonder if they are awake.”  “Oh, go ahead, you!” said another.  “At all events, they can’t do anything to us.”

When they came farther in, in the grotto, they stopped and sniffed.  “Who shall we take to-night?” whispered the one who went first.  “To-night we will take the big ram,” said the last.  “After that, we’ll have easy work with the rest.”